Card sorting machine



Jan, 2, K. J CARD SORTING MACHINE 8 Shee ts-Sheet 1 Filed April 24, 1937 INVENTOR KARL J. BRAUN ATTORNEY Jan. 2, 194G. K. J. BRAUN CARD S ORTING MACHINE Filed April 24, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR KARL J. BRAUN :5 AT TOR NEY Jan. 2, 1940. K. J. BRAUN CARD SORTING MACHINE Filed April 24, 1937 FIG .3

a sheets-sheets INVENTOR KARLJBRAUN 1w MTQRNEY 2, W4. BRAUN 2,185,289

CARD .SOR'IING MACHINE Filed April 24, 193'? 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR KARL J.BRAUN Jan. 2, 1940. K, J. BRAUN cm) somrme MACHINE Filed April 24, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 E. o w: m: m: I AME 2: o: I ilw 3. on. .2 :1 w: 3 .15

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INVENTOR KARL J. BRAUN HIS A TORNEY Jan. 2, 1940. BR U 2,185,289

CARD SORTING MACHINE" Filed April 24, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 FIG.8

INVENTOR KARL JBRAUN BY HI ATTORNE K. J. BRAUN 'CARD SORTING MACHINE Filed April 24, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Jan. 2, 1940. K. J. BRAUN CARD SORTING MACHINE Filed April 24, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 y WA R E VM WA Y E N R O M B H Patented Jan. 2, 1940 lE s'rA'rss rare Fries CARD SOB/TING MACHINE tion of Delaware Application April 24,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to card sorting machines and particularly to those machines which are adapted to sort successive cards having the same designation into one pocket and to sort any card having a difierent designation from the preceding and following cards into a second pocket.

This invention consists of converting the well known Powers tabulator base, shown and described in the Patent 2,044,119 to W. W. Lasker, filed May 19, 1931, into a two pocket card sorting machine. The machine will send successive duplicate cards into one pocket and will send all other cards into another pocket. The term duplicate, as used above, applies to cards which hold the same designatory punchings. The cards to be sorted are first placed in the usual receptacle and are fed, from the bottom, one at a time, by a power driven picker blade into the sensing chamber of the machine. Here the cards are sensed by a reciprocating pin box and are then fed into a retaining chamber. The usual change of designation mechanism is utilized to close the shutter on the foremost pocket of the sorter to allow any card which bears a difierent designation from the preceding card and succeeding card to be deposited in the rearmost pocket. However, when two succeeding cards, having the same designatory punchings, are run through the machine, the first card is held in a retaining chamher while the second is being sensed and, since the change of designation mechanism is not affected by the second card, both cards are fed into the foremost sorter pocket. The operation of the present invention is generally as follows:

The first card of any run is fed, by the aforementioned picker blade, into the sensing chamber and is sensed near the end of the first cycle of operation of the machine. On the second operating cycle, the first card is fed into a retaining chamber at the same time that the second card is being fed into the sensing chamber and both cards are then held in their respective chambers while the second card is being sensed. If the second card hears a different designatory punching than the first then, on the third machine cycle, the first card will be fed into the rearmost sorter pocket, the second card will be fed into the retaining chamber and held there, and the third card will be fed from the card hopper into the sensing chamber and held there. This procedure continues until a card enters the sensing chamber which bears the same designatory punching as the card which simultaneously enters the retaining chamber. When this occurs, the cards are held until the end of the operating 1937, Serial No. 138,699

cycle and then, on the next operating cycle, both cards are fed simultaneously into the foremost pocket of the sorter. If the next card bears the same designation as the two which were just deposited in' the front sorter pocket, it will also be sent, on the next operating cycle, into the front pocket. The timing and other mechanisms necessary to the operation of this machine will not be: described here but will be described. later in detail.

One object of this invention is to sort successive duplicate cards into one pocket of a twopocket sorting machine.

Another object is to sort'all cards other than succeeding duplicate cards into a second pocket of a two-pocket sorting machine.

Other objects and structiu'al details of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figs. 1 and 2 together constitute a left hand sectional elevation taken substantially through the middle of the machine.

Figs. 3 and 4 together constitute a left hand elevation of the machine with the left hand cover plate broken away to show the power transmission gearing.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the shutter control unit which controls the closing of the shutter on the forward sorter pocket and which controls the locking of the card stop associated with the retaining chamber, one screw head being omitted for the sake of clarity.

Fig. 6 is a top plan View of the shutter control unit shown in Fig. 5, two screw heads and one spring stud having been omitted for the sake of clarity.

Fig. '7 is a left hand elevation of the shutter control unit.

Fig. 8 is a left hand sectional elevation of the same unit taken substantially through the middle of the shutter control cam shaft along the line S-S of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is an exploded isometric view showing the shutter control unit, the change of designation mechanism, and the main operating cams of the machine.

Fig. 10 is a front elevational detail of the stopping and starting toggles for the machine.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary left hand detail elevational view of the stopping and starting mechanism for the machine.

Fig. 12 is a right hand detail elevation 01' the outer toggle.

Fig. 13 is a left hand detail elevation of the inner toggle.

Fig. 14 is a left hand detail elevation of the toggle breaking lever.

As will be seen from Figs. 3 and 4. the power drive of the sorter is the same as that shown in the Patent 2,044,119 to W. W. Lasker. The main operating shaft I is positively driven by the usual motor driven worm train shown in Fig. 6 of the above patent. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the usual picker knife 2 is moved rearward and forward once for every revolution of the main operating shaft I by an oscillating arm 3 and a connecting link 4. The arm 3 is securely fastened to a shaft 5 which extends through the left hand frame casting 6 (Fig. 3) of the machine. Fast upon the left hand end of shaft 5 is an arm I, which is connected by a short link 8 to an arm 9 which arm is pivoted on a screw I0 fast to the left hand frame casting 6. This arm 9 bears, upon its right hand side, a follower roller (not shown) which is pressed by a spring II against a picker cam (not shown) which cam is mounted upon the main operating shaft I. It will, therefore, be apparent that, for every revolution of the main shaft I, the picker 2 (Fig. 1) will lead one card into a pair of continuously operating power-driven feed rolls I2 which will then feed the card into the usual sensing chamber as is clearly set forth in the Patent 2,044,119 to Lasker.

Stopping and starting mechanism The stopping and starting mechanism for the machine is old and is not claimed herein but will 'be described in order to clarify the basic structure upon which the present invention is built. As will be seen from Figs. 3 and 10 to 13, inclusive, a clutch engaging and disengaging arm I3, which is the same as the arm in Fig. 5 of the above mentioned Lasker patent, is mounted fast upon the left-hand end of a shaft I4 which runs from side-to-side across the front of the machine and acts to engage or disengage the old and well-known machine clutch which is not shown in the present application but which is clearly shown in Fig. 6 of the Lasker Patent 2,044,119. The clutch arm I3 is shown in detail with its associated operating toggles in Fig. 11 of the present drawings. In Fig. 3, a cam I5, mounted upon the left hand end of the main shaft I of the machine, normally lies in the position shown and carries, upon its periphery, a tooth I6 which is adapted to contact a follower roller II, mounted upon the right hand side of an arm I8 which is pivoted at I9 to the casting 6. The arm I8 pivotally supports at its forward end, the lower ends of two push-links 20 and 25. The link 2i extends through a slot in the top of the frame casting 6 and is guided, by the slot, for vertical movement. It will, therefore, be evident that, for every revolution of the main operating shaft I, the cam I5 will push the links 29 and 2| upward. As shown in Fig. 3, an interponent arm 22 is pivoted at 23 to the middle portion of an arm 24, which extends downwardly from its pivot point 23 and carries, at its bottom, a rightwardly bent off ear 25. The interponent arm 22 is formed with a raised portion 21, on its top side and a cut out portion 28 on its bottom side; and the pusher link 2I, being in the same vertical plane as the interponent arm 22, travels up and down and carries the interponent arm 22 with it. Just above the interponent 22, is a lever 29 which carries, at its rear end, a lug 3B which is adapted to be acted upon by the raised portion 21 of the interponent arm when it is desired to stop the machine. The lever 29 carries, at its forward end, a leftwardly bent lug 3I which overlies a lever 32 and which carries an adjusting screw 33 as is old and well known. Both levers 29 and 32 are pivoted upon a rock shaft 34 which is suitably supported by a casting screwed to the top of the left hand frame casting 6. The forward end of the lever 32 is pivoted to the top of an upright link 35, the lower end of which is pivoted by a short shaft 35 to the clutch arm I3. Thus, it will be seen that, if the interponent 22 is moved toward the rear of the machine and held there until the tooth I5, on the cam I5, strikes the follower H, the push-link 2! will raise the interponent 22 and the raised portion 21 thereof will contact the lug 38 and swing the lever 29 clockwise (as seen in Fig. 3) which, in turn, will swing the lever 32 in the same direction and force the link 35 downward to disengage the clutch.

The means for causing the interponent 22 to assume its active position includes a push button 31 which is pressed toward the front of the machine by a coiled spring (not shown) and which has a rearwardly extending stem 38. As will be seen from Figs. 3 and 11, the rear end of the stem 39 pivots the forward end of a link 39 which is pivoted at its rear end to a rock lever 49 which is pivoted, at 4I, to the left hand frame casting E5. Pivoted to the upper end of the rock lever 40, at 42, are two adjacent levers 43 and 44. The forwardly extending lever 43 is formed with a hook at its forward end and is tensioned clockwise (Fig. 3) by a spring 45 which is anchored at its upper end to the lever 43 and at its lower end to a lug 45 on the link 35. At its rear end, the lever 43 is formed with a leftwardly bent lug 47 which underlies the bellcrank 44 and limits its counter-clockwise movement about the pivot 42. A spring 48, anchored at its upper end' to the lever 43 and at its lower end to the bellcrank 44, tends to constantly keep the bellcrank against the lug 41. The rear end of the bellcrank 44 is formed, as shown, with a notch 49 for engagement with the ear 26 of the arm 24 and it will be seen that the spring 45 tends to rock both levers 43 and 44 clockwise, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the notch 49 Will clear the ear 25 when the machine is being started. When, however, the machine is operating, the levers 43 and 44 will be rocked counter-clockwise far enough so that the notch 49 will be in a position to contact the ear 25 and move the interponent 22 toward the rear to stop the machine, as will now be explained.

Adjacent the right hand or inner side of the link 35 are two toggles 50 and 5| as will be clearly seen in Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13. The outer toggle 59, which lies flush with the right hand side of the link 35, consists of two short links 53 and 54 which are pivoted together at 55. The upper link 53 of the outer toggle 50 is pivoted at 52 to the link 35. The lower link 54 of outer toggle 59 has, in its bottom, a hole through which passes the short shaft 36. This shaft 36 (Fig. 10) passes leftwardly through the link 54 and, thence, through a slot 56 in the link 35 and is held against rightward movement by a keeper 51. A spring 58 tends constantly to keep the toggle 50 in its straightened position, in which position it limits against a pin 59 held on the link 35 as shown in Fig. 12. The top end of the upper toggle link 53 is made with a slot 60 which embraces a pin 5| (Fig. 10) which pin is fast in the left hand face of a toggle breaking lever 62 which carries a slightly larger pin 631 on its righthand face. The inner toggle 5i is somewhat similar to the outer toggle. The upper link 64 of this toggle (see Fig. 13) is formed with an offset finger and is pivoted to a lower link 66 by a headed rivet El. A spring 68, similar to the spring 58, tends constantly to hold the inner toggle 5! in its straightened position wherein a. nose '68, on the upper link 54, limits against a pin lt held on left hand face of the lower-link E6. The upper link t lt of the inner toggle 5! is pivoted at H to a frame stud 72 which is suitably fastened he lefthand frame plate 8 of the machine. c toggle breaking lever" 62, as will be seen from it), lies directly between. the outer toggle the inner toggle 5! and is pivoted upon the same frame stud it as the inner toggle link t l and it will also be seen that if the lever 62 is swung counter-clockwise as seen in Fig. 3, the pix l and 83 will act to break both toggles. Fig. 3 shows the normal, unoperated position of the machine and Fig. 10 shows the normal or unoperated position of the toggle assembly, while Fig. 11 shows the toggles in the position they assume when the machine is operating. When the machine is running and the clutch is engaged, the clutch spring (not shown herein but desighated by the reference numeral 34 in Fig. 6 of the drawings ofthe Patent 2,044,119) holds the i2 ier togg;e 5t broken as is shown herein in 11. The outer toggle is straight and, since this so; the link 35 is in its upper position with the lower end of its slot 55 occupied by the short shaft 38. Since the link 35 is in its upper position a pin it, fast on its right hand side, engages the under side of the hooked lever 43 and holds it in such a position that, if the stopping and starting button 33 were pushed in, the hook on the lever 43 would not engage the nose of the toggle breaking lever 62 or affect either toggle. However, the rearward movement of the lever would (Fig. 3) move the notch 49, in 1 e er M, against the ear 26 of arm M and move arm 2% a small distance rearward. This when the cam l5 next lifted the link 2|, the lovers 29 and 32 would be rocked a small amount c ockwise and would push down the link 35. At leis time the outer toggle 58 is straight and the ,ft is still in the lower end of the slot 56 in "ck and, consequently, when the link 35 is pushed down, the straightened outer toggle is a so forced down thus pushing down the shaft which disengages the clutch (not shown) and a. s the spring 53 (Fig. 11) to straighten the toggle 5i. This toggle El will now hold the clutch disengaged until the starter button is again pushed in. Since the link 35 is new in its lower position, the pin '13, thereon, will allo the hooked lever $3 to assume its normal tion. In its normal position the lever ift is so located that, if the starter button ill were pushed in, its hooked portion would contact the.

nose of the toggle breaking lever 62 and break both toggles. In its normal position the lever would also be holding the spring pressed lever ucl": a position that the notch 39, thereon, clear the ear 2.1 on lever 2 as is shown 3. When both toggles ill and 5! are as is the case when the machine is being .ed, the clutch spring overcomes the tension of the spring 63 and the inner toggle 5i remains broken as shown in Fig. 11. However, the outer toggle 5U remainsv broken. only for an instant. The action of. its spring 58 immediately restores it to its normal. position and this now. raises the link to its upper position shown in Fig. 11.

In. summation, when. the machine is in normal unoperating position, both toggles must be broken tostart it and the inner toggle 5| then remains broken but the outer toggle 50' immediately snaps to normal, unbroken, position raising the link 35 and the interponent 22 remains in its normal inactive position. To stop the machine, the button 3? is. pushed in. again and, though the toggles are unaffected by this action, the interponent is moved to its active position. When the cam l5 next moves up the push link 2! the levers 29 and 32. act to push down link 35, thus straightening the inner. toggle 5t, which position is shown in Figs. 1 and 10, to disengage the clutch.

Card transport train As will be seen from Figs. 1 and 2, the punched cards are fed, by the aforementioned power feed rollst2, into the sensing chamber 15 and, after sensing has been accomplished, they are fed, in the usual manner; into a train of transport rolls l8, ll, l8, and i9 which rolls convey the cards into either of two sorter pockets 8G and 8|. The upper rolls l6, l1, "I8, and T9 are spring pressed skid rolls, as shown, but the lower rolls "l8, H, 18, and la are power driven. The lower roll '26 is positively driven from the main worm drive on the right hand side of the machine, and upon the shaft MA, as shown-in Fig. 2, is fastened a bevel gear 92 which rotates with the shaft 16A and meshes with a similar bevel gear 83 mounted fast upon a shaft 8%. This shaft carries three other bevel gears 85, 86, and 8? which are identical with the gear 8-3. The gears 85, 86, and 81 mesh with identical bevel gears, 83, 89, and 9!], respectively, which are fast uponthe right hand ends of the shafts l-IA, 18A, and 19A respectively. It will thus be seen that, as long as the clutch is engaged,.the conveyor or'transport rolls E6, TI, 18, and 19 will be positively driven and each will be driven an identical amount.

Change of designation mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the present application.

A pin box, designated generally by the reference character 9! in Figs. 1 and 2, holds forty-five rows of pins 9-2, there being twelve pins in each row. Each pin 92': is formed with a tapered point and has, at its middle, a small leftwardly extending locking pin 0r extrusion The locking pins or extrusion 93 coact with the usual cam actuated locking slides S l and those pins which pass through holes in the card being sensed are locked in position in a manner which is old and well known in the art and fully described in said patent. The pin box 9| is reciprocated by an eccentric 95 and strap 96 and is moved down and up once for every revolution of the main operating shaft 6. The upper pins 9? are also provided with small pins or extrusions 98 and 99 which coact with sets of slides E00 and NH respectively.

Theslower slides Hill are locking slides and are spring pressed toward the rear of the machine by leaf springs I82 and all the locking slides are pressed, against the-tension of'springs 5%, toward near the end of each operating cycle. The retract bail bar IDS is held by a pair of depending arms Ifl i which are pivoted and made fast to a rock shaft I05 which is journaled in suitable supporting brackets I06, the left-hand one of which is shown in Figs. 3 and 9. From Figs. 3 and 9, it will be seen that the rock shaft I05 is operated by the cam I5 acting through the pusher link 28 which moves a rock lever I01 which is fast upon the left hand end of the shaft I06. A spring (not shown) tensions the rock arm H11 so that it constantly touches and follows the movement of the push link 20.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 9 the change of designation slides IUI are not tensioned by any springs but cooperate with a set of interponent members I08 to move a change of designation bail bar N19. The interponents I08 are manually depressable, by their finger pieces III), from their normal or upper positions shown in Fig. 1, to their active or lower positions shown by the leftmost interponent in Fig. 9; and it will be understood that there is one interponent member I08 for each change of designation slide IIII. Hence, it will be seen that, if the interponents I08 are set in their lower or active positions, when the designatory punching of a card being sensed differs from the punching of the preceding card, the change of designation slide or slides IIII (depending on the number of columns being used for sensing designatory matter) associated with these punchings will be moved toward the front of the machine and will push forward the respective interponent member or members I08 which, in turn, will swing the bail bar I09 toward the front of the machine or counter-clockwise as seen in Fig. i. As can easily be seen from Fig. 9, the bail rod I39 is supported between two depending arms III which are made fast, at their upper ends to a rock shaft I12 which is supported at its left hand end in a casting I13 which is shown in Figs. 3, 5, 6, and 8. The right hand end of the rock shaft H2 is supported by a bracket (not shown) which is mounted on the top of the right-hand frame casting which is similar to the boxlike casting 6. Fast upon the extreme left hand end of the shaft [I2 is mounted a finger II-I which in its normal position, as is shown in Figs. 5, 6, '7, 8, and 9, rests against a stud H5 which is riveted toa latch I It on the shutter control unit now to be described.

Shutter control unit and card-stop mechanism Figs. 5, 6, '1, 8, and 9 show the shutter control unit which is mounted and supported upon the casting II? previously referred to. Referring for a moment to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and i, it will be seen that, mounted on a shaft H1, is a card gate or shutter I I8, which normally stands open as is clearly shown in Fig. 2. Fast upon the left-hand end of this shaft III, there is rigidly secured a bell-crank lever H9, the upper arm of which is pivoted at I29 to the rear end of a link I2I which has, in its forward end, a slot I22 in which rides a pin I23 which is carried in the lower part of the left hand face of a latch I24, pivoted at I25 to the left hand frame plate I31 of the machine. The latch I'M is formed with a flat top edge I26 and a flat front edge I21 both of which edges cooperate with a pin I28, held in the rear part of a centrally mounted lever I29 as is shown in Fig. 4. As is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the lever I29 (Fig. 4) is made fast upon the extreme left hand end of a card stop operating shaft I30 which extends laterally across the rear of the machine and is journaled in the left and right hand rear frame plates I3I (Fig. 4) and I32 (Fig. 2) respectively. Just inside the frame plates I3I and I32 and fast upon the shaft I30 are two rearwardly extending arms I33 (the right hand one of which is shown in Fig. 2), which are pivoted at their rear ends to a card stop plate I34 which is mounted for vertical sliding movement upon the rear face of a cross bar I35 which is fastened at both ends to the frame plates I31 and I32. Screwed to the inside of each of the frame plates ISI and I32, is a bar I36 (the right hand one of which is shown in Fig. 2) and upon the top of these bars I36 is fastened a guide plate I31, which is the upper plate of a card retaining chamber, and two small guide strips I38 (Fig. 2). Spaced apart from and supported by the upper guide plate I31 of the card retaining chamber, is a plate I39 which is the lower guide plate of the card retaining chamber and which is fastened to the upper guide plate I31 by screws, not shown herein.

' Returning to Figs. 3 and 4, it will be seen that the forward end of the card stop actuating lever I29 holds leftwardly protruding pin I40 which hand side of the rock lever 13A, and the link M2 (Figs. 3 and 4) is pivoted upon the left-hand side of the rock arm I43. Thus, it will be seen that the rock levers I43 and 53A act to open and close the card stops for both the sensing chamber and the retaining chamber simultaneously as will be more fully explained hereinafter.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3, and 9 together, it will be seen that the main operating shaft I holds a card stop actuating cam I46 which acts, near the middle of each operating cycle of the machine, upon a follower roller I31 which is held upon the left hand side of a lever M8, and lowers and raises a link I69 which is pivoted, at its lower end, to the forward end of the lever I38 and at its upper end to the end of a rock arm I59 which is fast upon a shaft IliI journaled in suitable brackets supported on the framework of the machine. On the right hand end of the shaft IEI is fastened the rearwardly extending rock lever Hi3 and also the lever I MA, the latter pivotally supporting the upper end of the link I 15 the lower end of which is pivoted at I52 to the rear end of a lever I53 (see Fig. 9 only) made fast to the left-hand end of a shaft 153A which is journaled in brackets (not shown) supported upon the left and right hand frame castings. The forwardly extending end of lever I53 lies in a slot IB I which is cut in the left hand edge of a card stop sup-porting strip I555, which strip is mounted for vertical sliding movement upon two support bars I56 (shown only in Fig. 2). Bars I53 extend laterally across the rear of the pin box and are supporting and guiding bars for the upper pin box assembly as is old and well known. On the right hand end of the shaft 153A, there is fastened a forwardly extending lever (not shown herein but designated by the reference character 221 in Fig. 21 of the Patent 2,044,119 to W. W. Lasker) which extends into a slot in a strip which is identical with the strip I shown herein in Fig. 9. The two strips Iii) I 55 are bent rearwardly at their bottoms and are securely fastened to a card stop I51 which is shown as an angle bar in Fig. 9 and which is the well known card stop for the sensing chamber of the machine. From the foregoing it will be seen that the sensing chamber card stop I51 (Fig. 9) and the retaining chamber card stop I342 (Fig. 2) may be operated simultaneously by the rock arms I 43 and [43A (Figs. 3, 4, and 9). At certain times, which will be fully set forth hereinafter, the card stop I36 for the retaining chamber will be held inactive while the sensing chamber card stop I61 is in its downward or active position and it is for this reason that the pin and slot connection I ill-MI, shown in Fig. 4, is made between the lever I29 and the link I42. It will be recalled that as seen in Figs. 3, 4, and 9, the bell-crank H9 is fast upon the shaft I I1 which is the pivot shaft for the card gate or shutter on the front sorter pocket M. The bell-crank H9 is pivotally connected at I58 to the lower end of a curved link I59, the upper end of which is pivotally connected at I60 to the rear end of a rearwardly extending rock lever I6I mounted upon and rigidly secured to the right-hand end of a rock shaft I62. Fast upon the left-hand end of the rock shaft I62, is mounted an arm I63 which carries upon its lefthand face an anti-friction roller I 64 which is adapted to follow the periphery of a cam 166 having four equally spaced grooves cut therein.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that when the shutter control cam I65 rests in its normal position, shown in Figs. 3, 5, 6, '1, and 9, the roller I64 rests in one of its peripheral grooves and, consequently, the lever I6I is holding the link I59 (see Figs. 3 and 4) in such a position that the latch I24 (Fig. 4) is in its normal upright position wherein its top edge I26 lies directly under and in the path of the pin I28 on the lever I29 and is in position to lock the card stop I 35 (Fig. 2) in its upper inactive position. It will further be seen that the bell-crank I18 (Fig. 4) is in such a position that it is holding open the card gate, or shutter H8, in the position shown in Fig. 2. It will, therefore, be seen from Figs. 2, 3, and 4 that, if the shutter control cam I65 were swung one eighth of a revolution clockwise, as seen in Fig. 3, so that the roller 164 were cammed up onto a high part of the periphery of cam I65, the roller I64 would swing the shaft I62 slightly counter-clockwise, as seen in Fig. 3, which, in turn, would swing the rock arm I6I in the same direction and would push the link I59 toward the rear of the machine. This would swing the bell-crank II9 clockwise, which would push the link IZI toward the front of the machine and this would swing the latch I24 counter-clockwise far enough to remove the edge I26 from the path of the lever I29 so that the shutter IIB (Fig. 2) would be closed and the card stop I34 (Fig. 2) would be free to operate simultaneously with the card stop I51 (Fig. 2) associated with the sensing head.

The means for actuating the above described shutter control and card stop control mechanism will now be described in detail. As seen in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, the entire shutter control unit is mounted upon the casting I it which is omitted in Fig. 9 for the sake of clarity. The casting I I3 holds upon its left-hand face a fixed shaft I66 upon which is mounted for rotation a sleeve I61 which is formed integral with a large spacer collar I68 (Figs. and 6) in its exact middle. Fixed upon the left-hand side of the sleeve I61 is a ratchet disc I69, a spacer collar I19 and the aforementioned shutter control cam I65. Fixed upon the right-hand side of the sleeve I61 is a ratchet disc I1I which is identical to ratchet disc I69, a spacer collar I12 and a detent cam I13, which cam is identical in contour to the shutter control cam I65. The cams I65 and I13 and the ratchet discs I69 and Ill are all fixed to each other and to the sleeve I61 by two long rivets I16 and I15 which run through the entire assembly including the central spacer collar I68 which is an integral part of the sleeve I61 as previously mentioned. The exact angular positions of the two cams and two ratchets, in relation to each other, will be described accurately hereinafter.

The ratchet discs I69 and I13 are operated by rock arms I16 and I11, respectively, (pivoted upon a stub shaft I16A Fig. 8) which is fast in the left-hand face of the casting II3) Arms I16 and I11 are spring pressed counter-clockwise, as viewed from the left-hand side of the machine, and are actuated by a link I18 whose upper end has riveted thereto an oifset branch I19 as is clearly shown in Fig. 9. The link I 18 is operated from the main operating shaft I by a cam I19A which acts upon a follower roller I88 which is fixed upon the left-hand face of an arm I8I pivotally mounted upon the left-hand frame casting 6 and which (Fig. 3) is constantly urged clockwise by a spring I82 anchored, at its upper end, to a stud carried upon the left-hand face of the arm I8I and, at its lower end, to a stud carried upon the left-hand face of the arm I48. As was previously explained, arm I48 is pivoted to the link I49 (see Fig. 9) which operates the card stops for the machine. Returning to Figs. 5 to 9 inclusive, it will be seen that (as is particularly shown in Fig. 1) the left-hand ratchet operating arm I16 is normally held in its upper position by the latch I I6 which is pivotally mounted upon the left-hand end of a shaft ZEII fast in the left-hand face of the casting H3. Pivotally mounted, upon the right-hand side of the ratchet operating arm I16, is a pawl I84 which has a forwardly extending tooth I85 adapted, at certain times to act upon the teeth of the ratchet disc I 69 on the sleeve I61, upon which it is angularly mounted one eighth of a revolution clockwise from I1I as seen in Figs. 7 and 8. A spring I86, which is anchored at its forward end to a stud I81, carried upon the right-hand face of the arm I16, and at its rearward end to a stud I88 carried upon the right-hand face of the pawl I84, tends constantly to draw the tooth I85, of the pawl I84, against the ratchet I69. A pin I89 is riveted to the top of the pawl I84 and protrudes from the right hand face thereof. Thus, it will be seen that should the latch I I6 be swung counter-clockwise as seen in Fig. '1, the ratchet operating arm I 16 would swing counter-clockwise until it came to rest upon the top of the push link I18 and, in this position, the tooth I85 on the pawl 184 would no longer be contacting one of the four, evenly spaced, high parts of the ratchet I69 but would be resting against one of the four low parts or ratchet teeth. It will further be seen that, since the latch I I6 is always released (when it is released), near the end of a machine cycle, then upon the following machine cycle, the pusher link I18 will be moved upward near the middle of the cycle and will move the arm I16 and the pawl I84 up with it which will revolve the ratchet disc I69 one-eighth of a turn clockwise (as viewed in Fig. 7)

Fig. 8 shows the right-hand ratchet disc HI and the detent cam I13. As will be seen there,

the right-hand ratchet operating arm I11, which is pivoted upon the same shaft I 16A as the arm I16, is identical in shape and size with the arm I16. A collar I90 spaces the two arms apart as is shown in Figs. and 6. Returning to Fig. 8, it will be seen that, mounted pivotally upon the lefthand face of the arm I11, is a pawl I9I which has a forwardly extending tooth I92 adapted, at certain times (to be fully set forth later), to engage and move the ratchet disc I1I one-eighth of a revolution, just as the left-hand pawl I96 may engage and move the left-hand ratchet disc I69. The pawl I9I is constantly urged toward the ratchet disc I1I by a spring I93 the forward end of which is anchored to a stud I94, carried by the arm I11, and the rearward end of. which is anchored to a stud I95, carried upon the pawl I9I. In normal position, the tooth I92 of the pawl I9I, lies against one of the low portions of the ratchet disc MI. The arm I11 is not held by any latch and it rides up and down, with the movement of the pusher arm I19, once for every machine cycle. Normally, it rests, as shown, in its lowest position.

It will be noted here that the pin I89, which is carried by the pawl I84, extends leftwardly into the plane of the pawl I9I and at certain times (to be described hereinafter), acts upon the pawl I9I to prevent the tooth I92 thereof from engaging and moving the associated ratchet disc Ill. The detent cam I13 normally stands as shown in Fig. 8, with one of its high parts supporting an anti-friction roller I96 which is pivotally mounted upon the right-hand side of the rearwardly extending arm I91 of a bell-crank to whose upright arm I98 is anchored the forward end of a spring I99, the rear end of which is anchored to a short upright arm 296 fastened to the shaft I62 by a screw collar. The detent bellcrank I91I99 is loosely pivoted upon the stubshaft 2IlI, fast in the left-hand side of the shutter control casting H3, and is spaced from the latch II6 (shown in Figs. 5, 6 and '1) by spacer collars.

The stack of cards to be sorted for duplicates is first run through a standard sorter, and is sorted sequentially so that all cards bearing identical designation punchings will be placed next to each other. The stack of cards, thus prepared, is then put into the magazine of the present machine and the motor switch (not shown) is turned on. The operator then presses the starting button (Fig. 3) which breaks the toggle mechanism shown in Fig. 3 and in detail in Figs. -14. This allows the clutch to engage and the main shaft I begins to revolve. During the first half cycle of the main shaft I, the reciprocating pin box 9I is lowered and the picker 2 pulls the first card (or bottom card) into the foremost set of feed rolls I2 whence it is immediately conveyed into the sensing chamber, at which time the card stop for the sensing chamber comes into its lower or active position and holds the first card in position to be sensed as it is shown in Fig. 2. On the second half of the first operating cycle, the picker knife returns to the Fig. 1 position and the reciprocating pin box 9I is drawn upward to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Near the end of the cycle, the lower pins 92 enter the designation holes in the card and push up the upper pins 91 which, through their extrusions 99, move the change of designation slides IIlI toward the front of the machine. The interponents I68, in

the designation columns, having been previously manually set into their lower or active positions, lie between the forward ends of the change of designation slides I9I and the bail bar I99 and consequently, when the slides I9I are pushed forward by the upper pins 91, they push the interponents toward the front of the machine and this rocks the bail bar I09 toward the front of the machine or counter-clockwise (as seen in Fig. 1) about its pivot shaft II2. shaft I I2 extends laterally across the front of the machine and, when it is rocked by the bail bar I69, the finger I I I trips the latch H6 and allows the arm I16 to swing, under tension of its spring,

and lower the pawl I84 so that it rests on one of the low parts of the ratchet disc I69 in position to turn said ratchet disc on the next cycle. During this first cycle, the right-hand ratchet operating arm I11 has moved up and down idly in a low part of the right-hand ratchet disc Ill ered and the picker feeds the second card into the sensing chamber. Simultaneously, the first card is rolled into the retaining chamber (Fig. 2) and both card stops come to their lower or active positions to retain the cards in their respective chambers. I46 and the ratchet feed operating cam I19A are keyed to the main shaft I and turn together. These two cams are so positioned that the cam I46 operates to open the card stops after the cam I19A has actuated the ratchet operating arms and it will, therefore, be seen that, before the middle of the second operating cycle, the cam I19A has reached its high point and the ratchet operating arms I16 and I11 have been pushed up by the link I19. since the arms I16 and I11 were moved up together, the pin I89, in the pawl I84, held the pawl I9I out of active engagement with its ratchet disc HI and the tooth I95, of pawl I84, turned the ratchet disc I69 one-eighth of a revolution. From the foregoing it will be evident that if the" left-hand ratchet operating arm I16 remains latched by the latch II6 (as is the case when duplicate cards follow each other through the sensing chamber) the arm I11 will move its pawl upon the ratchet disc I1I but, whenever the latch H6 is tripped and the pawl I 84 snaps down to its lower position, (as is the case where cards with varying designatory punchings follow each,

other through the sensing chamber) the pin I89 will hold the pawl I9I inactive during the next cycle. It will be remembered that at the middle of the second operating cycle the pawl I84 has rotated the ratchet disc I69 one-eighth of a revolu-, tion. Consequently, the shutter control cam I65 has also been rotated one-eighth of a revolution and this has cammed the follower roller I64 up onto one of its high parts to act (as previously explained) through the arm I63, shaft I62, arm- As seen in Fig. 9, the

As seen in Fig. 9, the card stop cam=- The result of this is that,

p I9I up and down and the pawl will be free to act stops I 34 and I57 (Fig. 2) are in their upper inactive positions and the first card is being fed into the retaining chamber while the second card is being fed into the sensing chamber. In the last half of the second cycle the two card stops I34 and I 5? close simultaneously to hold the first card in the retaining chamber and the second card in the sensing chamber after which the pin box moves up and senses the second card in the usual manner and finding different designatory punchings, the change of designation slides IIlI are again moved toward the front of the machine which again trips the latch IE6, shown in Fig. 9 and allows the left-hand ratchet operating arm I16 to drop its pawl I8 as has been explained.

It will thus be seen that, as long as cards with varying designations punched therein are fed through the sensing chamber, the change of designation mechanism will trip the latch H6 (Fig. 9) and the shutter or card gate H8 will remain closed so that the cards will all be fed into the rear sorter pocket Bil; and it will further be noted that there will always be one card held in the retaining chamber while another card is being sensed in the sensing chamber.

Assuming that there are two cards in the chambers, as above, and that they hold different designatory punchings, near the middle of the next operating cycle, which for the sake of illustration will be the tenth machine cycle, the card in the retaining chamber is rolled into the rear sorter pocket 80, the card in the sensing chamber is rolled into the retaining chamber, and a new card is fed into the sensing chamber and it will be assumed that the card, which now rests in the sensing chamber, bears identical designatory punchings to the card which is in the retaining chamber. When this happens, the change of designation mechanism will not be affected and consequently the left-hand ratchet operating arm I76 (as seen in Fig. 9) will be latched away from its pusher link IE8 by the latch II 6. As will be remembered, however, the assembly which includes the two ratchets I69 and Ill and the two cams I65 and I73, will not be in the Fig. 9 position but will be one-eighth of a revolution away from it so that the roller IE4 is up on a high part of cam I65, pawl I84 is in its upper position but resting against a low part of the ratchet I59, the pawl I9l is in its lower position and resting against a low part of the ratchet III, and the detent roller I96 is resting in a low part of the detent cam I13, as sensing takes place. It will here be noted that, since the pawl I8! is being held in its upper or inactive position by latch IIS, the pin I89 thereon has allowed the pawl I 9! (which is in its lower or active position) to ride in against a low part of the ratchet disc I H and it will further be understood that, on the next or eleventh operating cycle, the pawl ISM will engage and move the ratchet disc Ill one-eighth of a turn which will move the entire shutter control assembly to the Fig. 9 position in which position the shutter H8 will be open as shown in Fig. 2. Since the shutter is opened before the middle of this eleventh cycle, and, since the link I59 (Fig. 9) has been returned to its original position, shown in Fig. 4, before the card stop mechanism has been actuated, it will be understood that the front edge I2'l of the latch I24 (shown only in Fig. 4) will be resting against the pin I28 on the lever I29 and that the latch I 24 will be heavily tensioned against said pin. When, near the middle of the eleventh cycle, the

card stop mechanism previously described raises the card stops, the latch I24 immediately snaps under the pin I28 and prevents the card stop I from closing. Thus, in the eleventh cycle, the

card which is in the retaining chamber is rolled.

into the front sorter pocket BI and the card which is rolled from the sensing chamber passes through the retaining chamber and into the pocket 8i. It will thus be seen that all subsequent cards hearing the same designation punchings as the two which rest in the front sorter pocket 8i will be conveyed from the sensing chamber direct to the pocket 8!. Therefore, all cards which bear the same designation punchings as the preceding card will be deposited in the front pocket 8| and all cards whose designatory punchings vary from the preceding and succeeding cards will be fed into the retaining chamber and held there until the next operating cycle when they will be deposited in the rear pocket 80.

While I have described what I consider to be a highly desirable embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that many changes in form could be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I, therefore, do not limit myself to the exact form herein shown and described, nor to anything less than the whole of my invention as hereinbefore set forth. and as hereinafter claimed.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of two card-retaining chambers, card sensing means, a change-of-designation device, means for feeding cards to one of said chambers and thence to the other of said chambers and thence away from the last mentioned chamber, a respective card stop for each of said chambers, operating mechanism common to both card stops, a latch for holding one of said card stops against operation by said operating mechanism, and means under control of said change-of-designation device for enabling and disabling said latch.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of card sensing means, a card retaining chamber, a pair of receiving stations, transporting means for feeding cards to said sensing means and thence to said retaining chamber and thence to said receiving stations, means for arresting a card in cooperative relation to said sensing means, means for arresting a card in said retaining chamber, a card deflector movable to different positions to guide cards to one and the other of said receiving stations, and means whereby said sensing means may control the last mentioned card-arresting means and concomitantly control the positioning of said card deflector.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of card sensing means, a change-ofdesignation device, a card retaining chamber, a plurality of receiving stations, transporting means for feeding cards to said sensing means and thence to said retaining chamber and thence to said receiving stations, means for arresting a card in cooperative relation to said sensing means, means for arresting a card in said retaining chamber, a cam, means operable by said cam to enable and disable the last mentioned cardarresting means, and means under control of said change-of-designation device for operating said cam,

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination of card sensing means, a change of-designation device, a card retaining chambe.

a plurality of receiving stations, transporting means for feeding cards to said sensing means and thence to said retaining chamber and thence to said receiving stations, means for arresting a card in cooperative relation to said sensing means, means for arresting a card in said retaining chamber, a card deflector movable to different positions to guide cards to one and another of said receiving stations, a cam, means operable by said cam to enable and disable the last mentioned card arresting means and to concomitantly position said deflector, and means under control of said change-of-designation device for operating said cam.

KARL J. BRAUN. 

